Process of treating batavian dammar resin



the manufacture of cellulose ester varnishes Patented May 10,1932

UNITED STATES; PATENT JoEAmvEs soHErBEn, KURT saunter,

onLEIrZIG, AND 'ALEXIJS Gnmvranr' B IM r ZWICKMI ,rnocnss or rann'rrne' :eArrAvIAiv nannies nnsm No Drawing; 7

i The present invention'relatesto a process for the treatmentof Batavian damniar resin.

The fact that Batavian d'ammar resin is onlypartially soluble inthe solvents used in is a great disadvantage when using natural dammar resin for this purpose. The cellulose ester varnishes become very turbid, ne-

cessitating objectionable filtering and clarifying processes which always results in loss of a considerable amountofi the'substance. Further, even a varnish clarified in this manner will still tend occasionally to form a turbid-film on being applied. 7

Thisbehaviour of the dammar resm is to;

be attributed to itscomposition- -Dammar resin is known to conslst of several constituents, in which dammarolic-"acid (23%) and twoinert products distinguished asla-L and ,8

-. dammar-resenes (450% and 22.5%) predominate. Whereas dammarolicfacid and the ocdammar-resene arev easily "soluble in hen zene-alc'ohol mixtures," ,B-dammar-resene Y is V g homogeneous composition, and consequently, onlymixtures of solvents can be considered insoluble in alcohol. I Otheral'cohols, esters,

ketones etc. i, 6; the particular solvents used for'cellulose-esters, behave similarly to alcohol.- v

In order to overcomethis objection tothe use of dammar resin in cellulose ester var nishesailit has pmposed. to addat o the solution of the natural dammar intoluene, before admixture with the cellulose-ester solution, a suificient quantity of alcohol or similarly acting solvent"(acetone, ethyl ace-v tate, 'etc;)-say '30 to 40% dro-carbon, to precipitate the ,B-resene. The clear solution of the remaining constituents of the dammar resin obtained afterallowing to settle, can then be mixed with the cellu i lose ester varnish without ,any danger of causing turbidity.

This method achieves its object, but is,

' however, very objectionable and also uneco nomical as the preparation ofth'e ,B-resene, which'is present in too great quantity to be neglected, for other technical purposes in properties possessed by the precipitated referred to the hy Toluene-21112011011 I Benzeue-alcohohwater.B.P. 64, 0:18,, 5% ethyl-alcohol.

1 container 1. in the vapour chamber adishpplication'file d March6, 1928. Serial No. 259,596.

product, which is distinguished by its inert-v ness.,-A further great disadvantage is that considerably diluted solutions of dammar resin have to be used and considerable loss of V solvent is unavoidable in the various; work- 5 ingoperations. As regards particularlythef V precipitated ,8-resene, this separates out in a form retaining more or lesslarge quantities, of, the solvent. ,8-resene thus swollen obviously causes considerable difiiculties in the clarification by settling, or like methods? It has'now been discovered that theexisting difiiculties can be simply overcome, :and special advantages obtained at the same time by meansof anew process-which oonsiststin' treating the fdammar resin withsuitable'sol- V vents or mixtures of solvents, thus dispensing with apreci'pitationi process; The process can be usedinvarious ways.

ous,to allow the vapours ofsuitable solvents ortmixtures'of solvents to act on dammar resin. .The vapoursumust of, courserhave "l which-form a constant boilingmixture. :Mix-

A turesv of alcohols with aromatic. hydro-care bonshave been found particularly suitable, L especially as such mixtures also, are capable otforming constant boilingxmixtures with water'also, acertain amount of which is al-' ways present. The compositions and boiling points ofseveralsuch binary :orternary cone '1 stant boiling mixtures are as follows IienZene a1coho1 Toluene-'alcohol-water'B.P. 75, 1'(,.46

If the vapour ofthese mixtures is allowed 7 to act. on the, resin, rest ng n, a perforated ethyl-alcohol;

tilling apparatus of the usual-type, only V dammarolic acid and a-resene are extracted, whilst impurities and ,B-resene are left,,and

the latter-can be easilykept absolutely dry; I

V Instead of the benzene-toluene-alcoholcom stant boiling mixtures indicated as preferable, other suitable mixtures 1 can be. used such':" as, I benzene alcohol orv carbon.bisulphide-alcohol l mixtur'es. The only pointwhich must always 5:100

be observed is that it is necessary to use a mix- I ture characterized by a constant boiling point i. e. a vapour of homogeneous composition. Further, one component of the vapour must have a solvent action on dammarolic acid and gar-P886118, whilst it is preferable for the fl-resene to be insoluble in the other component which assumes a definite minimum, concentrat on for th s component of the va- 7 1o pour. Thus, for example, when using benzene alcohol mixtures in the presence of large quantities of water,,itvmay benecessary owing to the relatively low alcohol concentration of the vapour (down to about 18,570) to;

1 tained by using-suitable solvents or solvent mixtures. It is essential to use; liquids or mixtures of liquid which dissolve dammarolic acid and a-d-am'mar resene, but which i have an action tending to reduce thes'welling of. the undissolved B-resene,

more or less swollen. 'iWhen using which is always homogeneous solvents, amongst which are included alcohols, esters, ketones etc, the a-dammar-resene' and dammarolic acid only are dissolved to a'inore or less great extent, whereas the ,B-resene re mains absoutely unswollen and in a condition capable of easy filtration and: further treatment. The. contamination of the B-resene by the other-constituents of the'dammar notcompletely removed, has noeifect for most'purposesfor which the substance; is used; f 1 I j V In order to obtain as quantitativesol-ution I of: dammarolic acid and oL-dammarresene: as possible, it hasibeen found advisable,inter V alia, to allow the-solvent used .to act at raised temperatures, Further, it has been found that this object can also be promotedbymaintaining certain proportions between thedam mar to 'be'treated and the amount of solvent used. Themost favourable ratio in any case can easilybe determined by experiment." It ispo'ssibl'e, by using solvents of the above type having different actions and also by combin ing the same, and further by maintaining differenttemperatures', to obtain purified dammar having slightly varying solubility properties such as are-ne'cessary for difierent cellulose ester varnishes.

The valuable property of thesolvents men direct-use. tioned, such as alcohols, ketones, esters, etc. I namely of not having a swelling. efl'ect onthe 7' a undis solivedt B-resene is also preserved to a high degree when certain not too large quantities of liquids having a solvent action on ,B-resene are added to such liquids. Aromatic hydrocarbons, petroleum hydrocarbons, chlorinated hydrocarbons, carbon bisulphide and the like, may be particularly, mentioned as examples of such liquids, 1 This 7 behaviour, which is of extreme importance f t P od i n o pu ifi lamm r r sini could not in anyway beanticipated. It is well known that resins, particularly resin acids (dammarolic acid in the case of dammar resin) have a dispersive power for'similarproducts,i Mention need only be nade in this respect of the variations in the solubility of :phenoleformaldehyde resins (determination of solubility in benzene etc.) caused.

by addition of colophony (abietic acid); o In view of the above phenomena, it was extraor-.

dinarily surprising that the ,Beresene could be separted in an absolutelyunswollen condii-r tion i. e. solid, hard and practically free from solvent and constituents of the varnish, by using such liquid mixtures,ueven when they were used in the heat and with high-con-v centrationof the resin. .c

f Ew r I t The vapour formed by heating a mixture of 33 kilogramsgof alcohol and 68' kilograms of benzene, or, inthe presence-of water, of 30 kilograms of alcohol, 50.kilograms of b'en-s zene and 1 5 kilogramsofftoluene is allowed to act on,100 kilograms;of Batavian dammar resin which isplaced in .a; perforated vessel covered withia filtercloth inside the vapour chamber of a distillation apparatus of the usualtype, The vapourswilfl; have dissolved out the td-ammarolicl 'acid and; -re'sene after a very short time, these two constituents being. found inthe bottom of the apparatus after the extraction,as a concentrated; sol;u -.v tion. The solution thus; formed" can. be subj ected, directly to further treatment. solid purified resin product; can alsoflbe obtained,

however, by distillingofi the, solvent: The mixture of ,B-resene and impurities, absolutely free from. solvent,remainii 1g on he filter cloth. is collected and subjected to separate extraction orfu'rthertreated in. known. man:

" liloaamplc 2*" I v' n i i d kilograms QrBaa'via" mararetreated with 90 kilogramslof ethyl acetate at raised temperature. Aportiori. of

the dammargoes-into solutions O in-evaporation, a clear-coloured resin is formed which is particularly suitable for the 'manufacture of cellulose ester varnished; The solution first obtained .is' of; course also suitable'for a l b?emp t One hnndredt'kilograms of; Bataviandam;

mar are mixed with a mixture of kilograms of benzene and kilograms of spirit, and heated to the boiling point of the mixture for a short time. On cooling the 3- resene separates out at the bottom along with the impurities present in the resin as a solid hard mass; The supernatant varnish can be 7 used direct. The solvent can also be removed if necessary, and a purified resin product is thus obtained. The improved dammar resins also possess the desired property of being capable of convenient and easy admixture in solution with cellulose ester varnishes.

We declare that what we claim is:

1. The process of treating Batavian dammar resin which consists in exposing the resin to heated vapours of a constant boiling mixture of a plurality of solvents in which ,B-

dammar-resene is substantially insoluble.

2. Process of treating 'Batavian dammar V resin which consists in exposing it to the heated vapour of a constant boiling mixture of an aromatic hydrocarbon and an aliphatic alcohol.

In testimony whereof we affixed our signatures.

J OHANNES SCHEIBER. KURT SANDIG.

ALEXIS BLUMER. 

